Politics

Frankly, I did expect more from the Obama team when they allowed users to post and vote for their most pressing questions a few days ago. It seems rather half-hearted that many of the questions were omitted, and that the answer to the top question was buried somewhere between other answers and given real-estate of a single lonely line. See their blog entry here. Furthermore, the answers did not seem at all personal, as if someone had really sat down and thought about these questions. Instead, standard political answers were given.

Now I don't expect miracles from the president-elect, but if you start such a democratic Q&A, you might as well do it right, and actually respect the vote counts. Here, I feel the most interesting questions were ignored, and those that were answered felt like a quick copy&paste from the campaign book. I may be over-reacting, but I feel gypped.

What do you guys think?

I did not go 'wow' when I read this news today. What I find remarkable though is: The Swiss people decided to do so during a poll - not the politicians. Maybe I should drop some prejudices about this country... So what does it mean for us? We'll probably save some minutes at the border. I guess not very much, because the control procedure has not been very complicated from what I have experienced so far.

With all the enthusiasm surrounding Obama's victory, I feel it only adequate that we reserve some space for the defeated. John McCain has shown some ugly moments in this campaign, but at the same time has always openly stood up against racism and bigotry targeted at Obama. In his speech given last night, he makes no exception. There are no negative comments made towards the winning candidate, or references to a bleak future. No, McCain takes defeat like a man, and gives a constructive outlook to the future. Whether you believe these are his sincere feelings or not, to me McCain will always be associated with his toughest moments, and this surely is one of them. Time and again has shown, that in these moments, John McCain takes the heavy burdens with honor and strength. I will always have respect for this man, and sincerely hope we have not seen the last of him on the political stage.

... and now? I have spent much more time on watching his campaign than I have ever done with any German candidate. In fact, he's one of the political figures I am now most familiar with. And not only because I watched the general election campaigns, but also the primaries and the battle with Hillary. Her voting yesterday reminded me of how long I have been doing this. I don't know exactly when it started. However, I know who's to blame for getting me addicted and I also remember a bit the first video where I think ten Democratic candidates were standing next to each other including John Edwards :-)

The question is now, what I'll do after this is all over and there is no more shocking clip about Sarah Palin. I guess, my hits on the CNN video website will become less, but I if go there, I will check out how Obama is doing in office.

Just to get you in the mood... (thanks to genlog for this):

I think I have witnessed two U.S. elections so far on Digg, and I can now say, that one of the big topics before an election is voter fraud, caused by the electronic voting devices. Apparently, machines tend to "switch" votes if you're voting for the wrong guy. I have never really taken this seriously, but after watching a video of such a machine in action, I must say that their malfunctioning is down-right scary. While I don't believe this to be a scam (if it were, the machine simply wouldn't show the flip of votes on-screen), the buggy interface might result in many votes lost. So to monitor the machines, Americans are spreading the word to video-tape your vote, and publish the results if something goes wrong. The video of the malfunctioning machine after the jump!

I have to admit, I always did like Powell's ability to speak, his open-mindedness, and his clarity. I fondly remember him talking about pre-marital sex on MTV, where I was shocked to learn that a Republican candidate could support anything other than abstinence. Anyway, take 7 minutes of your precious time and check out who Powell will vote for in the upcoming election. ... Right, I gave it away in the title already, but I promise you: He is still very much worth listening to. Video after the jump.

So it seems that McCain and Co. aren't even creative enough to come up with their own slime campaign against Obama. For inspiration it seems they have turned to the man himself. ...That, or Obama is friggin Nostradamus. Have a look:

As the elections near, and the news are flooded with Obama and McCain, I find it interesting to hear some voices outside the political main-stream on current issues. Recently, this scene has been largely dominated by Ron Paul. Another political figure, that has been mostly absent from the media, also has quite a bit to say on the current president, the tasks that await the next one in office, and how corporate America should be treated. Here's Ralph Nader's (Independant) take on the matters:

For those who haven't seen it yet: Below is the video to the full one and a half hour debate of Senator Biden and Governor Palin. Plus, if you've made it through the whole thing you can treat yourself to an SNL retake (click Read More) of the whole thing. It features a spot-on Tina Fey (from "30 Rock") as Gov. Palin. It's really only funny though, if you have seen the original. Enjoy!